The average viewer may not have known Zach Braff was connected to the hit Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso until his name came up on Emmy nominations morning. Braff, who worked with Lasso creator Bill Lawrence on Scrubs, earned an Emmy nod for directing “Biscuits,” the second episode of the first season, and says he’s been “smiling ear to ear” ever since.
It’s fitting, since smiling is one of Ted Lasso’s most common side effects. “It was like an antidepressant for the pandemic,” Braff says, reflecting on the impact of the charming series, which earned 20 nominations in total.
Vanity Fair caught up with Braff after his nomination to discuss how he teamed up with Lawrence and star/producer Jason Sudeikis, the pressure of directing a show that’s not your own, and what he had to do to shoot those soccer scenes. Plus, Braff chats about his plans for his next directorial effort, A Good Person, which stars his girlfriend Florence Pugh, and will be shooting this fall.
Vanity Fair: Obviously, you know Bill from Scrubs, but how did you end up coming on board to direct on Ted Lasso?
Zach Braff: I love Bill and I always have loved Jason. I didn’t know Jason all that well. I had hosted SNL once in my career, and I met him there, but always just thought he was supremely talented. Bill said, “Hey, this is my new adventure. Do you want to direct one?” I’d never before directed anything that I had nothing to do with. Most of my stuff has either been projects I’m related to, or films I’ve written or episodes of Scrubs or pilots that I’m directing the pilot. So, this is my first time coming aboard something that I had nothing to do with previously.
Early on in a series, you’re still helping set the look. You’re still helping create the tone. And that’s why I was really intrigued, because pilots are so hard. They’re such a juggling act of introducing the tone, introducing all the characters. You’re throwing so much at an audience and they’re very tricky to do, to make everyone tune in for episode two. And episode two is a really cool spot because then you can then say to the audience, “Yes, and there’s also this.” And in my case, there’s heart, because the “Biscuits” episode really was the one that sort of introduced that the show was going to be more than just a fish-out-of-water comedy. It was going to also introduce the classic Bill Lawrence, “Oh, by the way, I’m also going to break your heart by the end of the episode.”
Does that take pressure off when you’re just sort of stepping in as a visitor, or does it add pressure because you’re tasked with pulling off someone else’s vision?
I never have pressure off. I feel like directing is a very stressful position, always. And you don’t want to let anyone down. It’s an honor to be given an early episode of a new show. And Bill’s one of my best friends on earth and I didn’t want to let him down. I didn’t want to let Jason down. Almost every director can come in and shoot a master over the shoulders and closeups. I wanted to, with Bill and Jason’s permission, help continue to create the look of the show.
What were your early conversations like with Bill and Jason about the tone and look of the show?
Bill and Jason had a real clear tone that they wanted to achieve and that’s in the writing. And then, I guess what I’m sort of doing is saying, “Okay, well, what’s the language of the camera here?” For example, we had to figure out how does the camera move in the soccer sequences? I had never done a ton of sports action. It was not in my repertoire and my episode was the first one to have some soccer in it. And I get there and I’m just shooting the shit with the cinematographer and kind of talking about how we’re going to do it. And he goes, “Oh, and by the way, they’re so precious about the pitch and its perfection that we’re not allowed to bring any equipment onto this actual field.” And I’m like, “What?” They’re like, “Yeah, you can’t bring any equipment on the fields.” And I was like, “Well, how are we supposed to film on the fields?” It’s funny because on the show that Nate is like, “Get off the pitch. Get off the pitch.” But the greensmen at the real field [Beaconsfield Road] are like that. It’s their pride and joy, because it’s pristine and perfect.
So how did you do it?
I teamed up with the key grip and the cinematographer to figure it out. We put this rig that had a remote head on sort of a rickshaw that was on giant rubber inflated tires that weren’t heavy. It’s a kind of thing they use on beaches, on sets, because you can roll it on sand. So, we put a remote head on that and it was light enough that they allowed us to put it on the pitch because it didn’t have an operator on it. The operator would operate from the sidelines and then the key grip put on cleats and he would sprint with it. And that was our makeshift dolly that allowed us to get some really cool shots. That was the rig that they ended up using for the rest of the season.
This show doesn’t have a ton of improv, I assume, but I’m curious if you remember any specific changes that came up during shooting and made things better?
One thing that was funny, that I came up with was when Juno’s character is on that photo shoot. Bill really let me go nuts with that. I was like, “What if it’s because it’s going to be a green-screen lion?” And so, we came up with the idea that there was a guy in a green screen, like onesie with a head covering.So when the camera cranes down, it reveals that she’s petting a green-screen man. I thought that was really weird and funny.
Vanity Fair: You’ve worked with Bill for such a long time. How has he changed and what remains the same?
What’s remained the same about him is that he’s so fucking funny. He comes on our podcast [Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald] and hijacks the whole thing, because he’s like the ringer. And I just don’t understand how the hell he does all that’s on his plate. We all know someone in our life who’s successful and you cannot believe how much they take on. That’s Bill for me. He has a family and kids and he goes to all their games. He drives them around. He is such a good dad. And then, has all of these shows—I just don’t understand how the man keeps it all going.
Speaking of your scripts, the last film that you directed came out in 2017. I know you’re gearing up to shoot your next one. Do you like the pace you’re at when it comes to directing features?
I’d like to do more. I just kind of, for better, for worse, I just go where the wind takes me. I spoke with Bill about this because he has so much going on at one time. And I’d like to have more of that happening, although not at his level because that would be too much for me. But I do kind of go, “Okay, I got this cool acting role.” Like I have this movie with Robert de Niro coming out and that was just incredible and life-changing. And then the pandemic happened and I wrote this screenplay. And then that came together with Florence [Pugh] and Morgan Freeman and Molly Shannon, and that’s shooting in the end of October. But then I have Cheaper by the Dozen coming out as an actor. So, for better or for worse, I just kind of go with whatever happens. I probably should work on a bigger five-year plan.
I think you’re doing okay for yourself.
I have a whiteboard. I joke that my friend Amanda Kloots is my life coach. And she’s all about those mood boards and vision boards. I really believe in the power of a whiteboard. Like writing down your goals. And I just got one here in New York for my goals. But Amanda would say, “We’ve got to work on where we’re going. We’ve got to have that vision board done. We got to go make a collage out of magazines.”
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